Preaching the Gospel...In My Sleep

Dear family,

Today, I am, once again, believe it or not, in a mad rush for time to do a thousand and one things. So, first off I will start by letting dad know that his email is perfect. It's kinda like chapter 11 in PMG under bearing testimony. It is hard to question a testimony. I think that was inspired. It's awesome how parents are entitled to receive revelation for their families. Good job. And Mom, it sounds like you need another vacation. Going to jail [aka traffic school], finding shoes, doing animal projects, trying to keep everyone happy, and being called upon again right when you get a couple of seconds of peace. haha You should start getting paid for that kinda work. I guess though, in a way you do. It just might not be in the way you would think. For example you could be getting paid with a greater capacity to love. Just something to ponder on.

So I just remembered I need to respond to others individually so this letter might be a little short. Something really funny happened this week while I did a trade off with Elder Galt. He said that at 12:30 at night he woke up because he heard me talking. Apparently I was teaching the principle of Repentance (from lesson 3) and that it was actually pretty well done. I used some kind of analogy about Heavenly Father’s house being clean and how we need to be clean and he was starting to wonder if I was awake and just playing a joke on him... He realized I was actually asleep when I ended with "and all of this is possible because of … (BIG SNORING SOUNDS)" He explained what happened to me in the morning and I couldn't help but smile. Also, Elder Loffhagen told me I was trying to get someone to pray in my sleep as well.

We have a sweet investigator named Monique. I think I might have mentioned her last week as the girl who would just laugh at us every time we went over... It's so cool watching her countenance change as she prays seeking truth from Heavenly Father. She also came to church this week and actually enjoyed it and stayed for 3 hours. That was a shock. Something I'm starting to realize though is people who grow up in the Church might sometimes take for granted really how much the spirit can touch their hearts during all three of those meetings. The work is a little tough right now as far as our teaching pool goes. Things will turn around soon though. Sorry I have to cut things short to email OObers and Coolin (Aubrey & Collin).

Love,
Elder Ward

P.S. Tell the priest quorum I love them all and appreciate everything they have done for me, and that I wish them well on the best 2 years of their lives.

 

 

 

A Miracle Happened This Week

Dear family,

I have heaps of thoughts and letters to respond to that I probably won’t be able to get finished in the short time that I have, but I will do my best to type fast! So, to be honest, I can’t think of anything really... for Christmas or my birthday. I’m pretty content... I don’t really need much. I guess come strawberry orange banana Crystal Light packets would be great and some Sponge Bob macaroni and cheese. That would be cool too. (It's pretty sad that’s all I can think of.) I don’t need much, but feel free to surprise me.

This week a miracle happened!!! WEEE GOT A CAR!!!! A tender mercy indeed, especially for Elder Loffhagen! We had a great day where we were able to teach a girl named Hinerangi and set her to be baptized on the 1st of December. We just knocked on her door and offered to teach her on her front lawn. Then, not even 10 minutes after, we got a call from the AP’s (Elder Barney) letting us know that we were going to get a car tomorrow. I was so happy. I said, "This would be such a sick joke if you were just kidding! Are you for serious?!" So yup, anyway, long story short, the Samoan elders in our zone crashed the car so now we get to drive it around everywhere! I was just starting to enjoy biking too, but I think I will be all right. J

So let’s see—for your district meeting tonight, I actually do have something to throw in. I talked about this a lot in the last district meeting that I did. I will do my best to sum it up but I talked about Elder Bednar’s talk on personal conversion and focused on his analogy of our lamps and conversion oil (regarding the ten virgins). As missionaries everything we teach is to help people make and keep commitments and the biggest three are of course reading scriptures, praying, and going to church. Every day we BEG investigators to do those three things, because without those three things they cannot be truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Doing those three things can lighten the heaviest loads, bring hope to those in despair, and help brighten dark times. The thing is though, in order to help other people we first need to help ourselves! So a question you could ask everyone there is how much conversion oil do they put in their lamps? How often do they read their scriptures, how much work do they put into their prayers? and just how serious do they take the sacrament? (I mentioned that talk about the man who was "sleeping" when the water came his way). Anyway, without the spirit we can do NOTHING. This week I kinda experienced it. We had a baptism on Saturday—a boy named Shanil Kumar. It was a great program but it started at nine in the morning. So in a mad rush to make everything perfect we had to skip personal study. We still came back and did companion study and 12-week program training, but the whole day I could not tell what was wrong with me. I was super impatient in lessons, I had anxiety issues, and I was just angry throughout the day over nothing. That night I got in, planned, called the district, and then when we were reporting to the zone leaders Elder Bills asked me how my day was so I told him that it wasn't that great and what I had been feeling throughout the day. So he just asked why do you think that happened? Right away it hit me I DIDN'T READ!!!!! When you’re a missionary your conversion lamp gets a whole lot bigger and needs a whole lot more oil to power it. D&C 82:3 I strongly advise everyone to deepen their personal conversion including all the Priests and Laurels that are planning to go serve a mission, and ESPECIALLY any who are having second thoughts! I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

So yeah, some other cool things happened this week. I mentioned Shanil’s baptism a little already but I should tell you a little bit more. Baptisms are crazy. SOMETHING ALWAYS goes wrong. This time I was determined to get everything right. So the morning of we woke up at 5 in the morning to go fill and heat the font. Then we went to go run and exercise with Aj Houia who is starting to get a little fat and lazy. J We got back at six thirty and we started to get ready. We got to the chapel at 8:15 and started to set up chairs and everything else. Then at 8:30 Shanil arrived with his dad so we went to go change into our whites. That's when I realized I forgot extra clothes.... so everything that gets wet stays wet which includes white shirt and top and bottom garments. So I [improvised]. Then everyone started coming in, including members and the Assistants and zone leaders. The spirit filled the room but I could tell Shanil was nervous!!! We said a prayer with him and did our best to help him feel better, but when we got in the water I realized that it was not heated! AT ALL!!! Whoops. It was a good program and even though Shanil was clinging onto my arm for dear life and kicked his feet like a mad man he felt a lot better after and I felt the spirit really strong!

Sorry. I would love to write more but I need to take the sisters home! I will respond to all ya’lls next week. Love you guys heaps. Be good and don’t forget to fill your lamps.

Love,
Elder Ward

 

 

Working Smart Trumps Working Hard

Dearest family,

This week was excellent and once again full of many adventures! First off, before I forget, Mom I have no idea what I want... OH yeah another ball and pump would be nice. I left the pump in Missouri and my ball was popped by intense Tongan vs. Samoan volleyball. Also, that blue hair stuff would be cool and some deodorant because it's expensive here and I stink. Other than that I’m not sure what I need really. I guess just surprise me. It would be cool if you could send me an In-n-out burger, but I don’t think that’s possible. :) Anyways I do have some great news…I back to normal! No, I did not buy 6 bags of oranges. I only bought 4 which was quite a lot actually, and I ate about 3 and a half of the bags….probably in total 25 oranges. I have some good pictures I will try to send.

So WHOA the family sounds good! Trevor the sales champion!!!  I think my total average working at Moxie was probably like 4 bucks a hour. :) I’m still glad I did it. Brycecream did it again?! By 80 points?! hahahaha The 2nd place guy could have done another 2 dives and still not win. That kid is nuts!  As for Collin, way to go! Lindsay Wade…dude…that’s cool! She has the coolest family in the whole world. Be good to her and maybe offer to go play her in racquetball sometime. Tell her I said Hi. Aubrey I have nothing to say….you LIED!!! Jokes…I miss you sis and I bet you made a good Minnie Mouse for Halloween. Ava keep being cool and help dad scare away those pigeons before he shoots them in the face.

I kinda don’t even know where to start. Oh, just a reminder with Seth Bloomfield and all them boys when they get their mission calls….PLEASE let me know! Give me their addresses too and I will do my best to send them a letter before they go. So something cool that happened this week was INTERVIEWS with President Lekias. This is without a doubt the hardest I've worked on my mission, and we are struggling to find new investigators and help them progress. STRUGGLING! Anyways, President asked if Elder Loffhagen has been able to invite anyone to be baptized, and I said, “Well president, that's something I wanted to talk to you about... WERE STRUGGLING”. Ha…right away he asked have you been visiting the members... No.... and within 3 minutes he made a plan for us to help fix our problems. He let me know that working smart trumps working hard. He really helped me heaps and things are starting to progress again! Also we are baptizing Shanil Kumar this weekend! WHOO! I have been really humbled this week and realized just how much more I need to learn to be an effective servant.

Also this week, don’t worry this is with Elder Loffhagen’s permission, Elder Loffhagen does not like bikes... he has crashed too many times to count! One particular day I felt pretty bad for him. He crashed within the first 20 seconds of leaving the flat (apartment)  hurting his arm and his head, crashed again crossing the street, and then at night time going down a big steep hill. I told him not to brake and he didn't see the sidewalk on the dark hill so he ran over that and it threw him off his bike. I feel bad for him and I hope things will start getting better for him soon. We get along great haha. In our free time we play this geek card game called Magblast where you shoot each other’s ships and you have to make the sound affects. We also play this weird game that’s like a form of rock, paper, scissors, but it's dragon ball z style where you can either power up, reflect, shoot instant transmission, or spirit bomb. ( I have no idea why I’m telling you this.)

This week I had a cool experience going along with mom talking about her lesson on prayer... yeah I feel the same way sometimes too. I read a talk in the Ensign where a teacher had the people chant pots, pots, pots, pots, pots, and then he quickly asked, “What do you do at a green light?”… STOP!!! No you GO!  He talked about how sometimes we just mindlessly chant stuff out in our prayers and that we might not take the time to stop and think about what we are really saying. Then he gave important steps to affective prayer. I think they were 1. Pick a place 2. Pray out loud 3. Pray for others 4. Be grateful and 5. I forget but it was really cool. He used examples from the BOM and then he read Jesus Christ's prayer with the Nephites and he did all the steps. You should find it!!! It should be in either the October or September Ensign.

Anyway one night this week we went over to do some family scripture reading with the Houia/King family, and I don’t know what it was but everyone was just ANGRY! AJ was being cheeky, Pita started playing music because he wanted to read in Alma (not 2^nd Nephi), and then mom got mad because she was feeling the spirit and it was just getting ruined. Towards the end I was just ANGRY myself because I loved this family. We had just read 2nd Nephi 32 and 33 which are some of the sweetest chapters in the BOM and the spirit was just gone. I was so close to just freaking out and letting everyone know how retarded they were acting... I’m so glad I didn't! Anyway, nobody wanted to say the prayer so they started to pick on each other and put it to a vote (yes they argued about that too). I just sat quietly in the corner and when they asked me for my vote I stopped, didn't answer, and just knelt down and waited for everyone else to follow. The spirit then came in and with tears coming down my face I apologized for what had just happened (all the contention) and asked to let the family see how much we loved them and how much the gospel had blessed them in their lives. It felt as if I were literally talking to Heavenly Father and it is a prayer I won’t soon forget.

Anyway, I’m taking too long. I gotta go soon, but one last experience. This Sunday Kanahana surprised me and bore her testimony! She thanked me and all the members and she explained that the first day she came to church she was wondering why everyone was so happy, and she wanted that for herself. She said she finally understands why everyone is the way the are and that she experienced it ALL last week. She was just super grateful and you could tell how much of an impact the spirit had on her. That was priceless. Keep doing good things family and know that I love you guys to death.

Love,
Elder Ward

Heaps of Oranges

The Greatest Gift for Another Mom

Dearest Whanua,

Sorry I just need to point something out real fast... Mom is going crazy doing a million and one different things and it's her birthday today and she still manages to pop off a real letter to her missionary son... Sorry either all you guys are sad or Mom just has some kind of super powers! I think it's a little bit of both. :) Anyways… HHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY BBBBBBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

Good job you did it mom! Haha…we just sang happy birthday to President Kennedy (a guy in the stake presidency) at our zone breakfast today. He was turning 69 today... just around the corner mom, just around the corner... jokes. Well, I will be honest…even though I will have absolutely no problem admitting that I am a true blue Momma's boy I Live it! I Know it! I Love it!!! :) I am sad to admit that I completely forgot that it was your birthday today, so say sorry to the family because most of this letter should be just for you today. In all seriousness I have no idea how you do everything you do. I sure do hope that the family has appreciated everything you have done the past few weeks, and I really do think of you as some kind of super hero. Haha it just seems like your kryptonite is speeding tickets. :) 19 in a 15!!! What were you thinking?! You could have killed someone! :)

So mom, I didn't really get you anything but I will do my best to send you a picture of a mom and her kids that we were able to baptize this weekend. I think it's really cool that even though I wasn't able to give anything to my mom I was able to help give another mom one of the greatest gifts that can be offered. Her name is Kanahana Tamangarangi Taiaroa. I have talked about her a little, but man she is so cool! We found her about a month and a half ago when I still had Elder Tafiti with me. I knew she was important, so every time we had an appointment set with her I would do my best to plan heaps of appointments to do splits with other missionaries. :) Anyways, at first she didn't think we would come back. She didn't really believe in God and she never prayed before in her life. Over time through awesome spiritual experiences, she gained a testimony of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and stopped smoking, drinking, etc. This week her and her 2 kids, Miami and Kaniehana, got baptized. This, by far, was my favorite baptism. We planned to have Pita King there to fellowship baptize all of them, but the youngest Kaniehana asked me to do hers. The two kids went first and Kanahana (the mom) was so happy she couldn't help but clap. She experienced so much joy that day…it was priceless! Confirmation day was pretty sweet too! Even though I failed big time pronouncing their crazy Maori names :), the spirit was felt really strong by everyone.

You don’t know how much I miss having a mommy. Without a doubt and whenever I get asked what I miss the most, I don't hesitate to answer my mom... or sleep…haha. No, just kidding, I say mom. Anyway…whether it's washing my stinky clothes, making dinner, or even telling me I need to go shower, I don't think anyone has made as big as an impact on my life as you mom. Haha… I especially missed you this morning when I had issues from the lack of eating any fruit.  I can't remember when I've eaten fruit last. Sorry that is probably just going to make you worry, but in all seriousness my first thought was…Dang!...Mom would be giving me such a hard time on this right now. Haha…it probably wouldn't have happened in the first place. Don't worry though.  I'm fixing the problem today.  I am going to go out and buy like 6 bags of oranges.

 

Haha…I just read dad’s letter. All is excused since you were trying to help mom out. BUT YOU BETTER REPENT!!! Anyways, I just want to let the family know that they need to go hug mom and let her know just how much they appreciate her whether its for being a good example, cleaning everything, doing laundry, loving you, making good food, or just helping keep your bowels in check.  LET HER KNOW!!!! From the words of Thomas S. Monson quoting William Shakespeare, "They do not love... who do not show their love." Also, he encouraged us to never assume that someone knows that we love them... we should let them know. I love my family so much and, MOM, I love you too and no matter what you think YOU ARE the best mom in the whole world.

Love,
Elder Ward

p.s. I will throw in some quick cool stories that happened this week. I went to my first Maori funeral. They are a little different than what we are used to! When somebody dies, they have a 3 day funeral.  The first day after the service, we went to a house with about 50 Maori people gathered in one room around the coffin in the middle. Luckily we had Pita with us that day who is Maori himself and knew all the rules and regulations of what to do. Like…you have to be invited into the house and wash your hands before you leave. Anyways, we sat in the center of the room and sang “God be With You Till We Meet Again” and “Families Can be Together Forever”. I taught a little bit of the plan of salvation and bore my testimony about how families can be together forever. I talked about great grandma Dolly's funeral where I first distinctly felt the spirit as we sang that song.

P.s.s. To end on a lighter note…haha… man Kiwi's are a crack up. One phrase they use a lot is “hard out!” which means different things like big or crazy. They use it in a lot of different instances. Anyways, I almost laughed this Sunday when a YSA member who is a recent convert said the opening prayer in sacrament meeting and he was thanking Heavenly Father for heaps of different things. Then he started to run out of things to say and his prayer went a little like this "Thank you for all our blessings" and “Thank you for.... all our ‘hard out’ blessings to!" That was funny!!





Kanahana, Miami, and Kaniehana's Baptism

 

This Week was SAAAAWWEEEEET!!!

Auckland City

AJ and Elder Ward

Elder Loffhagen, my trainee

Red Hill Tracting View

Dear Family,

Man, that’s so crazy how much stuff you guys have been doing the past week or so... Haha…some of those pictures of the Kansas City temple hit so close to home and it's really cool you were able to see some parts of the mission that I use to cover in Missouri. You even ran into SISTER LISONBEE!!! That's my mission mom from Missouri. Man, she is like 25 or 26 years old and she is very authoritative….if that's even a word, but she was the best! I loved her! Haha…yup and that was true that Elder Bills was pretty serious all the time. Man I love him to death too! I found a new sense of appreciation for what he did for me when I first entered in the mission. Now that I'm on the other end of the spectrum I see just how good of a job he did and how much I owe him. Also something cool about that cornerstone of the temple that says Erected 2012, the Prophet and Jeffrey R. Holland stood in that same exact spot about 6 months ago. If you touched the top left corner of the box, that's where they put the mortar during the cornerstone ceremony.  Also, it was funny cuz seeing Ava there reminded me of a little girl that the prophet called up to put a little mortar in herself…it was pretty tender when she hugged the Prophet’s legs.

So, yes this week was SAAAAWWEEEEET!! Elder Fale left Tuesday and I got to spend the next 2 full days with Elder Bills, my zone leader. His companion, Elder Barney, was just made the assistant so I got to be a zone leader for 2 days. It was sooo nice being able to drive a car. I learned heaps from him and we had awesome days even though it was a little stressful covering both areas. One really cool moment we had was when we were working in his area we went to go teach Elder Bill’s next door neighbor. There was no other guy home so we couldn’t go inside, but she was keen to come outside and have a lesson with us. It was super sweet teaching the restoration to her, and halfway through the lesson when I finished teaching the Great Apostasy, Elder Bills started teaching the Restoration portion. Right when he started, I had a feeling that I was going to recite the first vision even though Elder Bills was teaching about Joseph Smith. In the lesson though when it came time Elder Bills explained that I would share the first vision... I started with a prayer in my heart hoping that the spirit would touch this ladies heart while I said it. It's probably the most I have ever felt the spirit and it was crazy because right when I said I saw a pillar of light, the heavens opened and it shined super bright all around us and on the lady we were teaching... when it had been rainy and cloudy 20 minutes earlier. THAT was cool!

So yup this week I got my new companion, Elder Loffhagen! It has made me reflect on how much I have learned and how much I have grown since being out on my mission. He kinda had a rough first day. He crashed on his bike, ripped his pants, and almost got hit by a bus. He felt really homesick, but Friday and Saturday we just worked super duper hard trying to find new investigators.  I had him do a pretty good amount of the talking to people which made him feel a lot better. He is great. I forgot to mention he is from England, oh, and guess what else... HE'S 18!!!! He is kinda like the English version of Benson Ferris (I mean that in the nicest way possible). I love spending time with him and teaching him how to be the best he can be. This morning we were going over how to teach the Restoration and how to really help investigators understand, and also working on how to transition (taking turns). So we took turns teaching different principles of the lesson while the other would sit on the couch right next to a picture of Joseph Smith. When Elder Loffhagen got to Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, he had a real hard time teaching that principle and kept freezing up. With a few attempts he started looking more and more discouraged. I told him STOP, okay, close PMG... “Elder Loffhagen, do you know that Jesus Christ lived and died for you”... Yes. “Do you know that he lived a perfect life and set a perfect example for us”... Yes. “Do you know that he lives and leads and guides this church today”... Yes. I then explained…”I know you know these things because the Spirit has confirmed in your heart and mind that it's true. Now what I want you to do is pass that same knowledge into my heart and mind, and pray for the Spirit to do that.” He prayed and after awhile I asked if he was ready. He then taught simple principles of what Jesus Christ did in his life. It wasn't anything really different on how he said it but I felt the spirit so strong!!!

Sorry, I got to go, but always listen to the spirit. You can't go wrong! I love you all extended family! :)

Arohanui Always,
Elder Ward

Part of my district, AJ, and Pita playing touch Rugby

Pita-King Planking Champ

General Conference...So COOL!!!

Dear Family,

Daaaa Heck??? That's not what I was expecting our family never does anything except go to California at least 2 to 4 times a year. (Connor learned we were on a church history trip.) I hope you’re enjoying everything and I hope you enjoy spending time in ZION. It's such a great place down there. Missouri will always have a close place in my heart. Also, you should go check out adam ondi aman. (I know I totally goofed that one up.) You should also go to the RLDS temple and visitor’s center right next to it. You might even run into my old mission president, President Keyes, but it sounds like you already have planned 832479816487236438 things to do already. Sounds like fun, and I’m glad you guys are trying something new. Haha! WAY TO GO COLLIN…30 on the ACT!!! Also, congrats on setting again. Trevor, good to hear you’re getting back into the swing of things.

So, I got some news! I got a call this week from President Lekias letting me know that I will be training a new missionary and I am going to be made the new district leader. So, I’m staying in Papakura for another transfer…WHOO! That will make 6 months here. Good thing this area is super cool! I don’t know my new companion’s name yet but there are 22 missionaries coming in and President let us know that 10 of them are in the process of learning to speak English. That would be pretty interesting, but I don’t have distinct impressions that will be the case for me. Who knows though….whatever the Lord wants, right?

This week was a little rough for some reasons. Monday, my bike’s tires both popped leaving us bikeless. Elder Fale smashed his ankle in a pothole playing touch rugby in one of our member’s backyard. Tuesday and Wednesday we couldn't really get a whole lot done and the people we did visit dropped us. Thursday, me and Elder Fale ran out of food except for some apples and milk, so we both drank a liter of chocolate milk each for lunch... Milk Was a Bad Choice!! Elder Fale was throwing up big time and I felt nasty. Then Elder Fale got sick on Friday again... haha. Normally I try to leave the negative details out, but I have good news! All of those things happened this week, but you know what? I honestly could not be any happier! Everyday me and Elder Fale were just able to smile, shake our heads, laugh it off and say, "It's just not our week. :)" Kanahana and her kids along with Shunil Kumar are progressing awesome! They are going to be baptized on the 27th of October.

Oh yeah, and then General Conference was SOOOOO cool! You guys were right…Jeffrey R. Holland did it again!  Remember Pita King? He was sitting next to me and after the talk he quietly whispered pointing to the ceiling. “Do you see that?” I said Nah (Kiwi version of no) and he said “that's everyone’s brains that just got exploded.” I especially liked when he talked about missionaries having been commissioned of Jesus Christ... that talk was super good! My other favorites were Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s (spell check maybe) talk on Saturday morning. Also, I loved Thomas S. Monson’s talk especially when he spoke about the Cultural Celebration in Kansas City. I WAS TOTALLY THERE!!! He mentioned Susan Cooper’s name too and I know her! I had dinner at their house like 4 times. It felt cool being able to be a part of all that. Anyway all the talks were super great. Robert D. Hales is looking a lot better from last conference and yup….best conference ever.

Good picture, Dad. I could take a better look at it if it wasn’t upside down, but I can make out that it's you, Trevor, Collin, Jared, Taggert, and Spencer. Quick response to Dad's letter…haha…the day before when we were at the Armstrong's house for the weekly MCM meeting. They showed a video of Glenn Beck sharing his thoughts on his beliefs. It was really good and gave me a lot of insight on just how important it is to have Heavenly Father play a role in our day to day decisions whether they are big or small. Also, about Trevor, that's kind of the stinky thing about coming home from your mission... because you’re going to suffer. It's either going to be regret for not doing what you should have... or you’re going to miss doing the things you got to do. Good thing it's that second one for Trevor! :) My only advice for Trevor is just remember Elder Uchtdorfs Saturday morning talk…keep finding joy in the journey and good things are always coming.

I love you guys so much and I was for serious about going to Independence to go check out the RLDS temple, the Far West Temple site, Adam Ondi Ahman, and the mission office in Missouri. It would be cool if you could meet President Keyes... Oh and the Kirtland temple that the RLDS own, but I heard it's still a crazy experience.

Love,
Elder Ward

p.s. The Church, believe it or not, is still true! ;)

Happiest Week of my Whole MIssion!

Dearest Family and Trevor!!!

HAHA…man…lots of emotion! I guess all you guys had a pretty eventful week! :) Trevor I love you so much buddy and I know without a doubt you served a mission that made our Heavenly Father proud. I think now that you’rE home back to where your old life used to be you've probably realized just how much your mission has changed you. I'm envious of your capacity of love towards those you served in Nicaragua! Now keep doing good things, make sure DUMB boys stay away from Aubrey, and go get married in the temple. 4 days….I mean come on…what's taking you so long? haha

Well, there is lots to say. I have recovered miraculously since last week. Elder Fale is pretty much a new missionary. He has been out for 2 months now and is still going through the 12 week training program. Now this area has not 1, but TWO missionaries that are obedient and have the desire to go out and work! Man, I learned this week just how much disobedience handicaps the work... being obedient is THE ONLY INTELLIGENT way to serve a mission... I fasted just yesterday to be able to forgive and forget. Things are better now, but I still had to overcome a lot of anger and bad feelings. Things have gotten a lot better and I LOVE ELDER FALE. He is a champion! He is from Mangere, New Zealand, which is like ten minutes away from our area. He is waiting for his Visa to go to PNG (Papa New Guinea) might need to do a spell check on that one. Anyways, we have been working SOOO HARD this past week to repent from the last few weeks transgressions and help get this area back to where it was before, and this week was AWESOME… in fact, the happiest of my WHOLE MISSION!!

This week we were able to find a new investigator and his less active dad. This guy stopped us a long time ago in town on our p-day. He owns his own Fiji curry shop and was baptized in Fiji 26 years ago. He let us know he wants to come back to church. We told him he will need to close his shop on Sundays and also let him know the Lord will bless him for keeping the Sabbath day holy. Anyways, he has a son (Shunil) and a wife who aren't members. We started to teach the son and helped him say his first prayer and the wife just avoids us, but we are going to invite her to sit in on the next lesson with Shunil.

Good news though…remember Kanahana??? Well dang she is SOLID! Three weeks ago she didn't even really believe in God or Jesus Christ, but she has had so many good experiences and felt the spirit so much that she can't deny what she has felt! She has quit alcohol, tea, coffee, and is SOOO CLOSE on the ciggies. We went over everyday this week and she was so grateful for everything we've done for her and her family. Everytime we left, me, Elder Fale, and either AJ or Pita Houia would leave doing Elder Fale's happy skip. ( It's really funny watching a 220 pound Tongan do a happy skip.) She came to church this Sunday, made friends really quickly, and felt the spirit really strong as others bore their testimonies.

This week I learned something really cool that is in Mark chapter 2 verses 4-12. I think that’s where Jesus heals the man with Palsy (spell check), but Kanahana brought up how she doesn't really believe that Jesus Christ healed all those people because she sees people today go into church blind and still come out blind. People roll in to church with a wheel chair, but they don't walk out on their own 2 feet. I read that story to her and explained that Jesus Christ did all those things that he did to show us that he had power to heal, and even though he died 2000 years ago what happened back then still happens today! Jesus Christ can heal broken hearts, cure anger, fix families, you name it he can do it. It's just a matter of putting your trust in him and doing the things he asks. After bearing my testimony she said, “you know that makes sense…I believe that.” THANK YOU HOLY GHOST!

Haha…This week also, 2 days after Elder Fale got in, my district leader finally wants to go on a trade off with me and then the very next day the zone leaders took us on one too. I gave them both a hard time because while I was struggling for 2 months they didn't bother to trade off once! Right when we got in the car I just said, “WHERE WERE YOU?!" Both trade offs were good haha and on Thursday when I went with Elder Bills, we ran into our investigator Jessie Moon who is 19 years old and is kinda pretty. She told me and Elder Bills that my old companion found her on Facebook and is trying to convince her to come to America to go out with him.  She was pretty creeped out! Elder Bills and I got a pretty good kick out of that one. :)

The work is going well again. I’M HAPPY!!!! and I’m pumped for conference! Tell Justin and Joey and Trevor I said hi. Give Trevor another big hug for me and stay good. The church is true!

Love,

Elder Ward